What is Working/Not Working?

ITEM TO EXAMINE

POSITIVE FACTORS
Access to instructional technology, communication technology, Internet, and appropriate instructional materials
Community support and involvement as it pertains to parental support, communication, and awareness of school-related issues

EFFECT ON SCHOOL/MY TEACHING

Teachers are able to expose students to 21st century learning through the use of technology and mainstream communications efficiently and effectively both within and outside of the classroom. The concern of whether or not students have access to the necessary devices This allows the school to feel more like a community school. There is typically never a worry of whether or not parents will show up to chaperone a dance, raise funds when the school is in need, or work with teachers and staff to support their child Teachers are given the autonomy to make decisions about how instruction is conducted both within their classroom and grade-level. They are treated as the experts who are able to know what their students need and do what they can to meet those needs.

MOVING FORWARD
Now that teachers and students have sufficient access to technology, we need to continue considering ways to ensure that technology is being used appropriately by students and not serving as a cause for distraction and disciplinary infractions
As a school, we may benefit greatly if we begin exploring what things we believe we need to do to raise parental involvement of those parents who we do not see often, whos children may show signs of difficulty in school, and who may not always be able to be present within the school

Teacher leadership within the school

2010/2012 NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey Comparison

We are noticing that not all teams/grade-levels operate with this level of leadership. The administration is currently working on ways to engage all teachers to enhance their leadership capacity.

CHALLENGING FACTORS
School administrators consistently enforce rules of conduct

EFFECT ON SCHOOL/MY TEACHING

The lack of consistency from the administration causes staff to also feel disinvested in upholding high expectations for student conduct and knowing how to respond with those expectations are not met. It also affects the student response to how they are to conduct themselves

MOVING FORWARD
It may help to develop a behavior matrix that is used across the school that highlights how students are suppose to behave in various areas of the school building and a behavioral log for each student to monitor their behaviors across classes. It may also be helpful to have the staff trained on PBIS so that they are aware of what behaviors warrant what consequences.

In this school, we take steps to solve problems

By not solving problems at the systemic level, staff find themselves either ignoring things they believe will never change or choosing to implement strategies on their own. Unfortunately, while this may be a way to solve problems, but because it is not universal, it affects consistency

We could consider conducting this process of examining systems that are and are not working so that we can solve for our challenges. I believe often times we can spend time acknowledging that there are challenges, but do not commit whole-heatedly to addressing them.

Teachers feel comfortable raising issues and concerns that are important to them

This connects to the above. Due to teachers not feeling as if they can raise issues and concerns, they may choose to ignore them, minimize collaboration efforts, and work in silos, which prevents the level of cohesiveness needed to manifest itself.

We may be able to consider developing a system (e.g. a suggestion box, round table discussions, etc.) that can be used for staff to raise concerns and administration commits to designating time to address them.